Someone Who Understands Me
by ShinnenTenshi
Summary: Allie showed up in Smallville hoping to start a new life.. but the past seems to always catch up with her and this time is no different. Will she find a helping hand in a boy who understands better than anyone what it's like to be different? :


Authors Note:

Hey ladies and gents! This is my first piece of fanfiction EVER.. so I am a bit nervous. Please excuse the copious grammar mistakes – I am doing my best! Lol. You may feel free to point them out, and I'll fix them  I am not sure if this is going to be a Chloe/Clark fic or a Clark / OC fic yet, but we'll see what my muse has to say about that soon. Anyways, reviews are always appreciated, so thanks in advanced!  Enjoy!

She had what felt like a pancake-sized blister on the skin between her thumb and pointer finger; she'd been walking along the side of the road for over four hours and the bag which had first seemed light now felt like a lead weight – she lifted the strap off her left shoulder and placed it on her right in an effort to ease her burden. The warm wind that blew across her face lifted her sweat stuck bangs off her forehead and she closed her eyes trying to imagine that the ground beneath her feet was smooth, warm sand instead of abrasive concrete.

She sighed, releasing some of the pent up tension that had her shoulders in knots and made her head throb. Smallville really wasn't as backwards a place as everyone in Metropolis seemed to think. She remembered only bits and pieces of the time she'd spent there as a kid – after all she was only six when the final "accident" had occurred and she and her mother had been forced to flee to Metropolis; The big city was hard on Allie and her mother, but people asked fewer questions and Allie's "accidents" were easier to cover up. However, after only a few weeks in the big city her mother found comfort in the arms of Dr. Jordan Martice. His suave attitude and false promises of a cure for Allie had ensnared her mother, and soon they were both living in his apartment while he worked on a supposed-cure for Allie.

Allie had been suspicious of men and doctors ever since. Dr. Martice had seemed so genuine and caring when he'd given her that shot – he'd even held her when her body contorted – reacting to the meteorite cocktail that had just invaded her body. He'd cooed and told her that soon everything would be okay and her accursed powers – the ones that had forced her and her mother to flee the only place she'd ever called home – would soon be gone; and Allie had believed him. It wasn't until 2 days later, when, getting up in the middle of the night to use the restroom, she had stubbed her toe against the dresser and yelled out in pain only to see the wooden chest she just jammed her toe on fly through the air to smack into the wall on the other side of the room that she realized something was very wrong. Her powers had been, as she would come to find out, fairly minimal before Dr. Marice had gotten a hold of her. The "accidents" she had had were much smaller – and didn't include things like hurdling a wooden chest across the room. Her first accident had been in kindergarten, when Allie, in the midst of being bullied by some of the older kids, had propelled some gravel off the floor at the bullies. None of them were hurt, the small pebbles not moving with enough force to pierce skin, had merely bounced off the kids clothing and onto the floor. But, when she saw the wooden chest, lying on the floor split in two, she knew things were different.

Allie was brought back to reality as she tripped over her shoe lace, nearly falling to the floor. The sky told her that it was well into the afternoon and that she would soon be in need to shelter. Allie had lived on the streets of Metropolis for a few weeks immediately after her escape, and was not eager to relive the experience – small town or not.

Her mom had rushed into the living room after hearing the crash; her face, aghast and fearful, told Allie everything – her mother had reached her breaking point and was no longer able to cope. Her mother had run to Dr. Marice as a last resort.. and he had failed.. or as Allie would learn later.. had purposefully tried to augment her powers, instead of trying to get rid of them.

That night as she looked into her mothers eyes, Allie realized she couldn't stay there anymore, she had to get out. Grabbing her backpack she stuffed it with her page-worn copy of Cinderella, a flashlight, her wallet and a few necessities before heading towards the front door. A tear slid down Allie's face as she saw her mother still standing there, staring at the chest, seemingly lost in her own world. Allie reached into the pocket of her cargo pants and pulled out a small box and set it on the end table next to the couch on the other side of the living room. "I am sorry…," she said.. "Happy Birthday." With that Allie ran towards the door to the apartment and as she walked out she glanced over her shoulder to see her mother – crumpled on the floor, crying – and she knew then, she'd made the right decision to leave.

As she approached the elevator that would lead down to the ground floor she saw it open and the indistinguishable white glare of Dr. Marice's lab coat gave him away long before she saw his face – she bolted. Dr. Marice yelled after her, telling her to stop, but she knew she couldn't. She ran towards the stairwell.. not bothering to see whether Dr. Marice was still pursuing her, and took the stairs two at a time, feeling her backpack pound mercilessly against her back. When she reached the lobby, she ran across the tiled floor and burst through the main entrance, dodging a man holding a latte and a woman in fishnets, she made it out the front door. As she stood outside the apartment building, looking to see if she was being followed, she was relieved to find only the lobby manager staring at her strangely. She wondered where Dr. Marice had gone, she had thought based on his adamant insistence that she stop, he'd be right on her heels, but she was glad he wasn't. She took a moment to pause, standing on the sidewalk right outside the apartment building panting, she looked up to the window of Dr. Marice's apartment. No one was there, and the windows were black – she wasn't sure what she was expecting to see. Part of her was hurt that her mother wasn't hanging out the window begging her to come home, but the rational side soon took over and Allie turned on her heels to head down the street when she was stopped in her tracks by the undeniable ring of a gunshot. She heard the screams of random pedestrians before she saw the glass falling from the window of the apartment. He stood there; a silhouette of a man in a lab coat holding a gun, the image that continued to haunt Allie's dreams to this day. She didn't have to see her mother's body to know – Dr. Marice had killed her. Allie was in shock.. the adrenaline that allowed her to run along the sidewalk even as her leg muscles cramped and her lungs burned, had also stopped the tears she would have shed and blocked her from feeling the pain in her heart. All she knew was that she had to run.

Allie heard the car before she saw it. Turning to peer behind her she saw a red bug car.. so at odds with the old-style feel of the asphalt road carving its way through endless cornfields… it's driver was not yet visible. She supposed it was a business woman from Metropolis, driving through Smallvile on her way to some important conference or meeting. Allie looked up as the car passed her only to pull over on the side of the road a few feet in front of Allie. Allie approached the car slowly, its driver had not made him or herself known yet, and, despite the fact that it had been over two years since her escape, she was still cautious. As Allie came around to the driver's side of the car, she saw a blonde head of hair stepping out of the open car door.

"I swear, I go through more pairs of panty hose each year than Macy's sell in an entire month"

The girl who had just stepped out of the car was staring at the large rip she'd just made in her panty hose, but when she heard the sound of shoes on concrete she whipped around towards Allie and blushed a bit embarrassed at her outburst

"Oh sorry! Hi, my name is Chloe.. Chloe Sullivan. Are you on your way to Smallville?"

Allie was a bit disarmed by the woman's carefree, friendly attitude – very different from the city-goers she was used to – but the girl's sunny smile had Allie answering her after only a brief assessing pause.

" Yeah.. the uh bus from Metropolis to Smallville broke down a few miles back, so I decided to try and walk it. I've been out here for a few hours."

Chloe smiled at the girl's stuttering, she figured she must be only a year or two younger than herself – definitely still in high school.

" Well I am on my way to Smallville now if you want a ride."

Allie smiled, "I'd love a ride. My mind might be made up to walk the distance, but I think my feet would scream out in protest" she chuckled a bit in self-mockery.

"Oh! Before I forget, my name's Allie. Allie.." and there she paused, unable to continue.. uncertain whether or not to give a last name… but before she could decide Chloe spoke..

"Well Allie.. welcome to.. well the middle-of-nowhere Kansas, to be quite frank." As she spoke Chloe started to get back into the car "Hop on in, you can throw your stuff in the back, we should be to Smallville in about half an hour."

Allie smiled and stepped into the passenger side of the car.

"Thank you"

"No problem. I am actually heading over to my friend's farm, is there somewhere I can drop you off before that?"

Allie frowned a bit.. where exactly was she intending to go? All she had thought about was getting to Smallville.. she realized then that she hadn't given much thought to what she was going to do once she got there.

Chloe smiled a bit to herself; She'd pegged Allie for a runaway the moment she'd seen her. Walking along the side of the road, carrying nothing but a backpack, wearing tattered clothes? It screamed runaway from a mile away. Not wanting to press the issue, Chloe suggested "You're welcome to come with me to my friend's farm. His mom makes the best muffins in the country and she's always got more than a few to spare" Chloe winked "and you can meet my best friend in the entire word – farm boy extraordinaire, and dark haired dream boy Clark Kent" Chloe laughed at her own description.

Allie wasn't sure how she felt about imposing on another person, but seeing as how she had nowhere else to go she decided to take Chloe up on her offer. "Thanks, that sounds great. I guess I should try to make some friends if I am going to be living here from now on." Allie smiled and leaned back in the car seat looking out the window at the never ending rows of corn.


End file.
